My name is Andy. OK, well, it's really Andrea, but everyone calls me Andy.
I can't tell you my last name, or where I live. I can't tell you what school I go to or the name of the soccer team I play for. This is a new concept for me, this silence. I can't really keep secrets, and I must say this one is driving me crazy. Fortunately, I have four friends to share it with, or I really would go nuts.
I was hanging out with my totally adorable best friend, Ardelle, better known as Ari, at the mall one evening. Ari is what we tomboys commonly call a "ditz". She loves the color pink and shopping. And shopping. And shopping...
Ari finally finished shopping, and we crashed at the food court. "Hey, Andy!" I heard Jenny call.
Jenny's our resident plain-child, with her plain brown hair, plain brown eyes, and plain clothes. Or she would be plain if she didn't call so much attention to herself...
"Ew! I just stepped in gum I really don't know where that stuff has been," she exclaimed, making a face. A paranoid, hypochondriac worrywart. That's our Jenny.
With her was Kali. I swear, that girl never speaks. She nods, or, if absolutely necessary, grunts out an answer. She's just shy, I guess. Not that I can understand that. She's supposedly a certified genius, whatever that means. All I know is she's always reading, often fantasy novels or occasionally comic books, and if she's not reading, she's working on her laptop.
The other odd thing about Kali was her choice of apparel. Her clothes were always some muted shade, usually gray, and baggy and long-sleeved even in the summer.
"What's up?" Ari bubbled.
Kali shrugged. "Not much," Jenny said. "We were about to head home."
"Great, us too!" I said cheerfully. "Wanna walk with us?"
"Sure," Jenny agreed for both girls.
On the way out, we bumped into Tala, a girl who was…more of an acquaintance than a friend. I don't think she had any real friends. Despite her blond hair, she's almost Goth- she wears dark clothes, often leather, and cultivates a lone wolf attitude.
"Yo, what's up?" she asked, combat boots clunking on the ground as she joined us. "Mind if I join ya? Ain't got nothing to do."
Kali wrinkled her nose, most likely at the grammar.
"Whatever," I said agreeably.
In hindsight, we really should have known not to go through the construction sight. I mean, it was like a horror writer's dream come true. But foresight and forethought have never been my stronger points, except maybe when it comes to strategy, like with chess or on the soccer field.
"Hey, come on, guys. It'll be fun," I coaxed.
"I go through here all the time," Tala agreed.
"Plus Ari and Jenny both have to be home in ten minutes," I pointed out.
Jenny frowned. "Even if there aren't psychotic ax-murderers in there, there are probably rats, rabid dogs, drug dealers…"
"C'mon," Kali said, pulling her through the hole in the fence. "It'll be cool."
"Oh, great," Jenny moaned. "My best friend has a dark side, we're going into an abandoned construction site where god-knows-what is…we're all gonna die."
Ari, my sweet wouldn't-hurt-a-fly best friend, attached herself to my arm as soon as she got through the fence, right behind me. "I don't think this is a good idea." She wrinkled her nose. "It's creepy in here."
"Hey, I'll protect you," I said, seriously.
Tala rolled her eyes. "Gimme a break, Prince Charming."
"Hey," I protested. "I take my roll seriously!"
Ari snickered, and I mock-pouted at her.
Jenny suddenly let out a squeak.
"Hush," Tala scolded.
"But- but- look up there!" she said. "It's a UFO!"
We all looked at her dubiously. "You don't believe in that crap," Kali said incredulously.
"Just look!" she insisted, so we all turned to look.
And you know what? She was right.
"Oh. My. God." Ari squeaked.
"Is it just me, or is it headed this way?" I asked. "My hair feels like it's standing on end."
"How can you tell?" Ari asked, her own black hair looking like it had just been hit by major static force. "Isn't it basically spiked up anyway?"
Tala gave her a weird look. "You just killed the mood, you realize. That ship could be here to kill us, and you're worrying about Andy's hair?"
"Well, she is a fashion disaster," Ari agreed.
"We should be ready to fight," Kali spoke up.
Ari's eyes got really big. "Not unless we have to," she exclaimed, clutching my hand harder.
"It's definitely coming this way," Tala said.
"Hiding would be good," Jenny squeaked. "Guys? Um, guys? Oh, crap, too late, it's here."
I'm not even gonna try to describe the spaceship. Description is totally not my forte. Ari tells me it's because I'm about as observant as a rock. But you can ask Ari or Kali to describe it later. They're better at that stuff.
Anyway, at this point I was totally overwhelmed, so I wasn't even all that shocked when the hatch opened to reveal a blue-furred, deer-scorpion-human thing. (Again with the description.) The one thing I did notice was the eyes. There were two sets, but the ones on his face somehow smiled with incredible kindness at us, even though he had no mouth. He stepped slowly down what was probably the gang plank, and suddenly stumbled and fell.
"He's hurt!" Ari exclaimed, running towards the alien.
"Oh, that's smart," Kali muttered, burying her face in her hand.
"She's gonna die," Jenny confirmed with a sigh.
"Hi, I'm Ari!" she said, cheerfully. "How'd this happen?" She touched a large burn mark along his side. "Can I help?"
No, said a strange voice that seemed to be only in my mind. It's too late to save me. But you can help me in another way.
"What on earth?" Tala asked. "Did everyone else hear that?"
We all looked at each other and nodded.
"What? I can't not help you! I'll go…call an ambulance."
No! he exclaimed. No, it's too late. Trust me.
Kali raised an eyebrow. "Look, dude, we just met a couple minutes ago, we're probably dreaming, we don't know your name, and you expect us to trust you?"
You must, he affirmed. Even now, they come.
"Oh, great," Jenny said. "More aliens trying to take over the earth." The alien turned to look at her. "I was right, wasn't I?"
Yes. They are called the Yeerks, and they take over people's minds, control them, go through their memories and make their host submit to their every command. A host cannot even choose to blink his own eyes. They could be anyone- you can't tell.
I am Elfangor Shirinai Shamtul of the Andalite people. We fight the Yeerks, but our ship was destroyed in orbit, and it will be…a long time before they can get help here. By the time they do, it will probably be too late- earth will have been completely taken over by them.
I think we were all pretty overwhelmed at this point. I mean, what are you supposed to say after someone tells you your whole planet is royally screwed? And should we even believe him? But I think all of us realized that we didn't have much choice at that point.
"Fine," Kali snapped. "This is just peachy. But why are you telling us this sob story? It's not like we can do anything about it."
That's where you're wrong. My people have developed a special technology- the ability to acquire the DNA of any animal you touch. A powerful weapon, if used correctly, although unfortunately my people underestimate the potential of the power to morph. If you wished, I could give you the power.
"I want it," Kali said, immediately.
"So do I," Tala agreed.
"We're all gonna die," Jenny moaned.
Ari looked at Elfangor. "We- we're going to have to fight, aren't we?" she asked.
Yes, he confirmed. But I will not force you to accept the power.
She drew in a shaky breath. "I don't know. Maybe…maybe I should say yes. I can always say I'm not fighting later, but it'll be harder to change my mind and decide to fight. But…"
Everyone was looking at me, and I realized I had to answer. I swallowed. "I…I think that if earth is in danger…I should try to save it."
"We're all gonna die," Jenny moaned again.
All right, then. He turned to Ari. If you really wish to help, hurry into my ship. Go straight to the back of the room, and there should be a table with a blue box and what looks like a human compact disc on it. Bring them out here. And hurry, the Yeerks will be here soon.
Just the way he said it send shivers down my spine, and Ari dashed into the ship and came quickly back out with a blue box.
Now, all of you come here. he commanded. Place one of your hands on the box. Five human hands touched each side of the box, as a blue, six-fingered hand held it from the bottom. A tingling spread through my hand. There, it is done, Elfangor said. Casting his extra set of eyes towards the sky, he said, They come. The Yeerks. Hurry and go. You are earth's last hope. You have to leave. Keep the disc, it has useful data on it. We could now see two pinpoints of light shooting across the sky, like some sort of hyperactive shooting star.
"What about you?" Ari asked, tearfully.
I'm going to die anyway, he replied. You need to leave.
"Come on, Ari," I said, touching her arm. "We need to leave, so we don't all end up dead. I don't want to lose you."
She sniffled and hugged me briefly. I guess she needed the comfort. "All right."
"Let's go," I said, turning and walking briskly away. Ari was right behind me, followed by Jenny and Kali. Tala paused a moment, taking Elfangor's hand, and then dropping it again and following us. I'm not too sure what it was about, but I try not to stick my nose in other people's business.
We slipped out another hole in the fence and turned around to see if we could see anything. What we saw was what must have been the two Yeerk ships landing. Bug fighters, I heard Elfangor's voice, although it sounded much more distant. You should get far away. There will be Hork-Bajir hunting around to make sure no one sees more than they should. A lovely picture of a very scary looking alien accompanied the thought.
"What could be more obvious than three freakin' ships landing?" Jenny questioned.
"They'll probably pass it off as drunkenness," Kali said. "I would assume that, if the Yeerks have their controlled people everywhere, that they can do something like that."
We all looked at each other, overwhelmed.
"All right," I said, rubbing my eyes tiredly. "We should get out of here as he suggests. Let's all hope this is a horrid dreams, but if it's not, meet at my house in the morning."
"All right," Tala agreed, speaking for the others. "Good night."
"Hey, I'll walk you home," I said to Ari.
"All right, thanks."
I walked Ari home like I said I would, and then I went home and fell into my bed, exhausted, and had a dreamless sleep. I didn't realize that it was the last I'd have for a long, long time.
End author babbling: Yes, I changed stuff. Got a prob?
About the characters:
Kali and Andy are both based off of aspects of my own personality.
Ari is kinda my idea of a really awesome girl.
Tala…well, every group needs a lone wolf. ^_^
Jenny: She's actually based off of a Digimon character. (Bonus points to those who can tell me which one. Not that it's that hard to guess.) I just thought that *cough cough* would make a funny Animorph.
And for those of you who just have to match up the present characters with my own:
Andy: is roughly equivalent to Jake. The leader.
Ari: Is roughly equivaltent to Cassie as the peacemaker who cares about everyone and wants them to get along.
Tala: equivaltent to Tobias as the loner. Trying to decide whether to do a nothlit thing.
Kali: Rachel. OK, so she's a computer nerd. But when Jenny mentioned the darker side to her, she wasn't kidding…
Jenny: Marco, the worrywart, plain and simple.
For more complete profiles, check out http://www.geocities.com/aleeaw/anific/profiles.html
I can't tell you my last name, or where I live. I can't tell you what school I go to or the name of the soccer team I play for. This is a new concept for me, this silence. I can't really keep secrets, and I must say this one is driving me crazy. Fortunately, I have four friends to share it with, or I really would go nuts.
I was hanging out with my totally adorable best friend, Ardelle, better known as Ari, at the mall one evening. Ari is what we tomboys commonly call a "ditz". She loves the color pink and shopping. And shopping. And shopping...
Ari finally finished shopping, and we crashed at the food court. "Hey, Andy!" I heard Jenny call.
Jenny's our resident plain-child, with her plain brown hair, plain brown eyes, and plain clothes. Or she would be plain if she didn't call so much attention to herself...
"Ew! I just stepped in gum I really don't know where that stuff has been," she exclaimed, making a face. A paranoid, hypochondriac worrywart. That's our Jenny.
With her was Kali. I swear, that girl never speaks. She nods, or, if absolutely necessary, grunts out an answer. She's just shy, I guess. Not that I can understand that. She's supposedly a certified genius, whatever that means. All I know is she's always reading, often fantasy novels or occasionally comic books, and if she's not reading, she's working on her laptop.
The other odd thing about Kali was her choice of apparel. Her clothes were always some muted shade, usually gray, and baggy and long-sleeved even in the summer.
"What's up?" Ari bubbled.
Kali shrugged. "Not much," Jenny said. "We were about to head home."
"Great, us too!" I said cheerfully. "Wanna walk with us?"
"Sure," Jenny agreed for both girls.
On the way out, we bumped into Tala, a girl who was…more of an acquaintance than a friend. I don't think she had any real friends. Despite her blond hair, she's almost Goth- she wears dark clothes, often leather, and cultivates a lone wolf attitude.
"Yo, what's up?" she asked, combat boots clunking on the ground as she joined us. "Mind if I join ya? Ain't got nothing to do."
Kali wrinkled her nose, most likely at the grammar.
"Whatever," I said agreeably.
In hindsight, we really should have known not to go through the construction sight. I mean, it was like a horror writer's dream come true. But foresight and forethought have never been my stronger points, except maybe when it comes to strategy, like with chess or on the soccer field.
"Hey, come on, guys. It'll be fun," I coaxed.
"I go through here all the time," Tala agreed.
"Plus Ari and Jenny both have to be home in ten minutes," I pointed out.
Jenny frowned. "Even if there aren't psychotic ax-murderers in there, there are probably rats, rabid dogs, drug dealers…"
"C'mon," Kali said, pulling her through the hole in the fence. "It'll be cool."
"Oh, great," Jenny moaned. "My best friend has a dark side, we're going into an abandoned construction site where god-knows-what is…we're all gonna die."
Ari, my sweet wouldn't-hurt-a-fly best friend, attached herself to my arm as soon as she got through the fence, right behind me. "I don't think this is a good idea." She wrinkled her nose. "It's creepy in here."
"Hey, I'll protect you," I said, seriously.
Tala rolled her eyes. "Gimme a break, Prince Charming."
"Hey," I protested. "I take my roll seriously!"
Ari snickered, and I mock-pouted at her.
Jenny suddenly let out a squeak.
"Hush," Tala scolded.
"But- but- look up there!" she said. "It's a UFO!"
We all looked at her dubiously. "You don't believe in that crap," Kali said incredulously.
"Just look!" she insisted, so we all turned to look.
And you know what? She was right.
"Oh. My. God." Ari squeaked.
"Is it just me, or is it headed this way?" I asked. "My hair feels like it's standing on end."
"How can you tell?" Ari asked, her own black hair looking like it had just been hit by major static force. "Isn't it basically spiked up anyway?"
Tala gave her a weird look. "You just killed the mood, you realize. That ship could be here to kill us, and you're worrying about Andy's hair?"
"Well, she is a fashion disaster," Ari agreed.
"We should be ready to fight," Kali spoke up.
Ari's eyes got really big. "Not unless we have to," she exclaimed, clutching my hand harder.
"It's definitely coming this way," Tala said.
"Hiding would be good," Jenny squeaked. "Guys? Um, guys? Oh, crap, too late, it's here."
I'm not even gonna try to describe the spaceship. Description is totally not my forte. Ari tells me it's because I'm about as observant as a rock. But you can ask Ari or Kali to describe it later. They're better at that stuff.
Anyway, at this point I was totally overwhelmed, so I wasn't even all that shocked when the hatch opened to reveal a blue-furred, deer-scorpion-human thing. (Again with the description.) The one thing I did notice was the eyes. There were two sets, but the ones on his face somehow smiled with incredible kindness at us, even though he had no mouth. He stepped slowly down what was probably the gang plank, and suddenly stumbled and fell.
"He's hurt!" Ari exclaimed, running towards the alien.
"Oh, that's smart," Kali muttered, burying her face in her hand.
"She's gonna die," Jenny confirmed with a sigh.
"Hi, I'm Ari!" she said, cheerfully. "How'd this happen?" She touched a large burn mark along his side. "Can I help?"
No, said a strange voice that seemed to be only in my mind. It's too late to save me. But you can help me in another way.
"What on earth?" Tala asked. "Did everyone else hear that?"
We all looked at each other and nodded.
"What? I can't not help you! I'll go…call an ambulance."
No! he exclaimed. No, it's too late. Trust me.
Kali raised an eyebrow. "Look, dude, we just met a couple minutes ago, we're probably dreaming, we don't know your name, and you expect us to trust you?"
You must, he affirmed. Even now, they come.
"Oh, great," Jenny said. "More aliens trying to take over the earth." The alien turned to look at her. "I was right, wasn't I?"
Yes. They are called the Yeerks, and they take over people's minds, control them, go through their memories and make their host submit to their every command. A host cannot even choose to blink his own eyes. They could be anyone- you can't tell.
I am Elfangor Shirinai Shamtul of the Andalite people. We fight the Yeerks, but our ship was destroyed in orbit, and it will be…a long time before they can get help here. By the time they do, it will probably be too late- earth will have been completely taken over by them.
I think we were all pretty overwhelmed at this point. I mean, what are you supposed to say after someone tells you your whole planet is royally screwed? And should we even believe him? But I think all of us realized that we didn't have much choice at that point.
"Fine," Kali snapped. "This is just peachy. But why are you telling us this sob story? It's not like we can do anything about it."
That's where you're wrong. My people have developed a special technology- the ability to acquire the DNA of any animal you touch. A powerful weapon, if used correctly, although unfortunately my people underestimate the potential of the power to morph. If you wished, I could give you the power.
"I want it," Kali said, immediately.
"So do I," Tala agreed.
"We're all gonna die," Jenny moaned.
Ari looked at Elfangor. "We- we're going to have to fight, aren't we?" she asked.
Yes, he confirmed. But I will not force you to accept the power.
She drew in a shaky breath. "I don't know. Maybe…maybe I should say yes. I can always say I'm not fighting later, but it'll be harder to change my mind and decide to fight. But…"
Everyone was looking at me, and I realized I had to answer. I swallowed. "I…I think that if earth is in danger…I should try to save it."
"We're all gonna die," Jenny moaned again.
All right, then. He turned to Ari. If you really wish to help, hurry into my ship. Go straight to the back of the room, and there should be a table with a blue box and what looks like a human compact disc on it. Bring them out here. And hurry, the Yeerks will be here soon.
Just the way he said it send shivers down my spine, and Ari dashed into the ship and came quickly back out with a blue box.
Now, all of you come here. he commanded. Place one of your hands on the box. Five human hands touched each side of the box, as a blue, six-fingered hand held it from the bottom. A tingling spread through my hand. There, it is done, Elfangor said. Casting his extra set of eyes towards the sky, he said, They come. The Yeerks. Hurry and go. You are earth's last hope. You have to leave. Keep the disc, it has useful data on it. We could now see two pinpoints of light shooting across the sky, like some sort of hyperactive shooting star.
"What about you?" Ari asked, tearfully.
I'm going to die anyway, he replied. You need to leave.
"Come on, Ari," I said, touching her arm. "We need to leave, so we don't all end up dead. I don't want to lose you."
She sniffled and hugged me briefly. I guess she needed the comfort. "All right."
"Let's go," I said, turning and walking briskly away. Ari was right behind me, followed by Jenny and Kali. Tala paused a moment, taking Elfangor's hand, and then dropping it again and following us. I'm not too sure what it was about, but I try not to stick my nose in other people's business.
We slipped out another hole in the fence and turned around to see if we could see anything. What we saw was what must have been the two Yeerk ships landing. Bug fighters, I heard Elfangor's voice, although it sounded much more distant. You should get far away. There will be Hork-Bajir hunting around to make sure no one sees more than they should. A lovely picture of a very scary looking alien accompanied the thought.
"What could be more obvious than three freakin' ships landing?" Jenny questioned.
"They'll probably pass it off as drunkenness," Kali said. "I would assume that, if the Yeerks have their controlled people everywhere, that they can do something like that."
We all looked at each other, overwhelmed.
"All right," I said, rubbing my eyes tiredly. "We should get out of here as he suggests. Let's all hope this is a horrid dreams, but if it's not, meet at my house in the morning."
"All right," Tala agreed, speaking for the others. "Good night."
"Hey, I'll walk you home," I said to Ari.
"All right, thanks."
I walked Ari home like I said I would, and then I went home and fell into my bed, exhausted, and had a dreamless sleep. I didn't realize that it was the last I'd have for a long, long time.
End author babbling: Yes, I changed stuff. Got a prob?
About the characters:
Kali and Andy are both based off of aspects of my own personality.
Ari is kinda my idea of a really awesome girl.
Tala…well, every group needs a lone wolf. ^_^
Jenny: She's actually based off of a Digimon character. (Bonus points to those who can tell me which one. Not that it's that hard to guess.) I just thought that *cough cough* would make a funny Animorph.
And for those of you who just have to match up the present characters with my own:
Andy: is roughly equivalent to Jake. The leader.
Ari: Is roughly equivaltent to Cassie as the peacemaker who cares about everyone and wants them to get along.
Tala: equivaltent to Tobias as the loner. Trying to decide whether to do a nothlit thing.
Kali: Rachel. OK, so she's a computer nerd. But when Jenny mentioned the darker side to her, she wasn't kidding…
Jenny: Marco, the worrywart, plain and simple.
For more complete profiles, check out http://www.geocities.com/aleeaw/anific/profiles.html